Summer's Back. Then Autumn's Coming. Again.

How odd has this year been, weatherwise? Boiling in April, tailing off to a mediocre summer, and finishing off with a boiling week in September.





Newly painted bottom fence

 In the 'summer' I noticed that the wood on our gate was looking a bit cracked and it looked like it needed a new coat of preservative. Because of the on and off weather, and various other things, I didn't get round to it. Then the freak hot week appeared at the end of September and it seemed like an ideal time to do it. I decided that I would paint the end fence a lighter shade to try and brighten it up a bit. Because it's North-East facing it goes into shade very quickly and the dark green stain that's on it at the mo is a bit too dark. Plus, the shade of green is nearly exactly the shade of the leaves of the clematis and honeysuckle that I've got climbing up it, so you can't really see the shape of the plants. Anyway, I popped to Homebase and picked up 2.5litres of Garden Shades Willow paint. £20!! But what's the choice? £20 on a decent colour, or £15 for 5 litres of dark green, red, gold, or dark brown. I don't know why these cheaper 5 litre pots can't come in nice colours, or at the very least a light colour. There's probably a reason. It's probably that they are owned by the people who sell you 2.5 litres of a decent light colour for £20.



Fence paint wrapped round the woodland garden by one panel

 I've managed to make the 2.5 litres spread over 4 (all in) fence panels and one side of the gate (to be honest I don't want to do the road side of the gate, the dark green that's on it at the moment means it's not very noticeable as you go by on the footpath). I've only put one coat on. But I like the look I've got with that. It's slightly patchy, not too new looking. A bit like it's sun-faded already. I didn't want to do just the back fence, I think that would have looked too blocky. So, I've wrapped the minty green around the woodland border, along the back fence, then wrapped it round the gate, and one half panel on the other side. It looks ok, I think. I'll live with it over winter and decide if I want to keep it. If I don't, I'm not sure what colour I'll go for next. Dark green again? What a choice.

Some reasons why people don't usually paint their fences in September though. For a start I had to prune back the honeysuckle and clematis to get to the fence. Not the time of year that you would usually prune them (according to my gardening book), so I'll see how they respond to that. I lost some of the shape, and half the height of the honeysuckle doing that too. I'm now wondering how I can grow the honeysuckle so I can pull it away from the fence without having to prune it back in future. Trellis would be the obvious answer but there's nothing to attach it to with the concrete posts. I've got some small 1' trellis hanging down the posts using a special bracket, but that wouldn't hold a piece of trellis that would reach to where the honeysuckle is growing. So I'll have to have a think about that. I may even move it completely, it was getting shredded by earwigs that live in the fence so it might be better to grow something else down there. The clematis isn't a problem because it gets pruned back hard in Spring anyway, but same thing with the leaves being shredded by earwigs. I know it was them because they were all falling out of the fence as I was painting.

Which brings me onto another reason why painting your fence this late in September isn't ideal. The number of bugs that live in them. I knew there would be a lot but it was raining earwigs and spiders as I was working along the panels. I had to get a stick and a brush to clear away all the webs before I even started each day. I think I've discovered a new version of spider too. I'm going to name them Base Jumper spiders. As my brush was working it's way along the struts, these spiders kept appearing and hurling themselves off of the fence. They were doing it with some speed, and force too. It was quite impressive, if not a little disturbing, being someone who isn't the biggest fan of spiders that you'll ever meet. But the worst spider is the one that's decided to build a web from one hanging basket to another. The distance between them is about 2 metres, if not a bit more, and it's a diagonal, right across the paving patio where my mini 'blowaway' greenhouse is, and where I keep all my tools. I knew the web was there, but I forgot for a second while I went to get something from the greenhouse. I suddenly realised I could feel something on my hair, then I remembered. Amazingly I didn't break the web. I said to the other half, it was nearly an Indiana Jones moment where he gets those giant webs in his face. It's a bit like that if we need to use the side alley to put the bins out too. Why do spiders appear all over the show at this time of year? And how does a spider build a web from objects 2 metres apart? They are very clever. If a little creepy.



Pansy - Delta Mixed

 I had a moment of weakness and picked up a pack of pansies on a garden centre visit. I've never grown them before because I've always thought they look a little old fashioned. But the colours in the pack I picked up are lovely, rich colours, so I got drawn in and purchased them. They cost me a whole £2.99 for 6. Pretty expensive by my standards. But I'd seen something on an old Gardener's World (I think they show them on the Sky channel Blighty, or somewhere around that channel in the Sky planner) about making new plants from big bushy plants, which these ones were. I suppose you get what you pay for. The more money you spend, the bigger the plant. And I think these ones are quality plants (i.e. bred to be good do'ers, lots of flowers, good foliage). So, I've pinched off a few non-flowering side shoots and put them in a pot with a plastic bag over them, as instructed. Apparently in a couple of weeks they'll be rooted, and I can plant them out around January, if they've survived that long. Fingers crossed.

Oh, tip of the day, but it's one for the future too. If you've got a Wyevale Garden Centre near you join their Gardening Club. Each autumn they have a seed sale. 50p a pack across the board. Including F1 seeds (the good ones, I think they've had a lot of breeding, or research, to make them grow well). I picked up a top-up for my veg seeds for next year. 1 pack of Tumbling Tom tomatoes (were £2.49), 1 pack of Carrot Early Nantes ( were £1.69), 1 pack of sweet pepper F1 Redskin (were £2.99), and 1 pack of sweetcorn F1 Swift (were £2.09). That's £9.26 worth of seed for £2. Bargain. And they aren't sow by the end of this year, either. Two have sow by June 2012, and two have sow by Aug 2013. It's a very good offer. You could have ten different veg types in your veg bed for a fiver.



Bee and butterfly border, planted up.

 Finally, don't faint, but I've actually planted out the plants for the butterfly border. Just as that border plunges into permanent shadow (due to the sun angle and fence lines) until around late March next year. I hope that because the plants aren't flowering they'll put up with the lack of sun for that long. It's an experiment. If they don't like it, I'll have to move them somewhere else and stick some shade plants in instead. But, for the moment, the bee and butterfly border is planted up. Finally.